Reactors

July 6, 1986|By Charlie Jean

THERE ARE BILLIONS of ways to arrange the 200 fuel assemblies in a typical core of a nuclear reactor, and each possible arrangement produces different economic and safety characteristics. For the first time, a computer program has been written to analyze all the different possibilities and select the safest and cheapest way to produce nuclear power. Thomas Downar, a professor of nuclear engineering at Purdue University who developed the computer program with Westinghouse Corp. engineers, said it appears the program will yield substantial fuel savings that could amount to millions of dollars for utility companies.